Pebble Beach -- It's not often one gets the opportunity to drive an ultra prestige car like a Rolls-Royce, much less drive the highly sought after, brand new, Drophead Coupe (DHC). Even rarer is the chance to cruise with the top down in a setting as picturesque as the famous, and ever so scenic, Seventeen Mile Drive; but the cherry on the sundae is having the CEO of Rolls-Royce with you in the passenger seat, as tour guide and narrator. I recently had the chance to do all of the above on a stunning Saturday afternoon at Pebble Beach.
Ian Robertson, a hands-on CEO, had spent his Saturday morning giving test drives to prospective buyers of the new DHC at Pebble Beach, on the day before the Concours d'Elegance. The day was bright and sunny, the sky unbelievably blue, and the setting heartbreakingly gorgeous. My appointment was scheduled for 2:30, and I was anxious not to be late. Traffic into Pebble Beach from Carmel was heavy, but I had discovered the back route, allowing me to just make it on time.
As I arrive at the appointed meeting place, I see a cherry red Rolls, with the top down, driving toward me and assume it's my appointment. I hail the vehicle to a stop and ask if either of the gentlemen in the vehicle is Ian Robertson. In response I’m given an affirmative up and down shake of the head followed by a verbal "No". I was later told that Steven Spielberg was behind the wheel of that red Rolls, going out on a test drive of his own. I never learned the name of the Joker with him.
Almost instantly after Spielberg drives away, Bob Austin, head of PR for Rolls, appears and introduces me to Ian Robertson. Ian is younger than might be expected, and I find him to be bright, engaging, and very approachable. Our car is brought up and I'm given the key and invited into the driver's seat. This one is a sleek, black Rolls with both the optional stainless steel brushed hood and the optional teak deck. Each of these options adds nearly another five figures to the $412,000 base price. Ian explains that the teak deck requires a yearly oiling that is performed as part of the regular service on the Rolls. I resist the urge to make any references to barnacles or land yachts.
Ian is very enthusiastic and extremely knowledgeable about this car. It was developed during his tenure as Chairman and CEO of Rolls, and he loves to point out various details about the Drophead Coupe, such as the wheel covers that always stay centered so that the RR logo is always read rightside up. This is clearly his baby.
Entering the vehicle, I'm compelled to notice the coach doors, which open toward the rear rather than the front, like the “suicide” rear doors on a mid 60’s, four door Lincoln convertible. After sitting and struggling to reach the door in order to close it, I’m instructed to use the button on the dash. The electric door closer is a necessity. I don’t think I can reach the door to close it while sitting in the driver’s seat.
As I'm getting comfortable, I'm required by the Diet Coke that I'm holding to ask that most important question: "Is there a cup holder?" Ian shows me the location and answers with a laugh, "Especially for Americans.”
Before becoming CEO of Rolls-Royce, Robertson was with BMW in South Africa for seven years, and was president for the last five. He came to that country from the UK, having been previously with BMW owned Land Rover, and he arrived in South Africa just as it became a democracy.
“It was a good time to be in South Africa.The country was going through a huge learning curve and was willing to accept all sorts of changes that nobody believed possible,” said Robertson. While he was there business quadrupled and his factory became the company’s biggest exporter of BMWs, primarily to the United States and Japan. “All of the 3 Series (exported) to the US were coming out of South Africa.” He was also named Automotive Man of the Year two years before he left, and I asked if he had any hesitation about leaving South Africa, where he had been so successful, to take on this new role at Rolls-Royce?
ROBERTSON: At the end of the day, this sort of challenge doesn’t come along very often. As I keep telling my team, you know, we’ve got 103, 104 years since the company’s inception. But in a very small way, we’re writing a chapter now in one of the world’s greatest brands. If you look at those 100 years previously, the first fifty were great, the next twenty were not so good, not so bad; but then things maybe went off the boil in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. I think we’ve repositioned the company back where it rightfully belongs.
We’re expanding the company again with a convertible, which takes the price segment even higher, and there is a very strong likelihood that we will do a coupe version of this car as well. The final decision is just around the corner. And we have announced we’re working on a small car -- now a small car in relative terms. That car will be positioned between the size of a Phantom, between one of the big executive saloon-type cars. Still a very big motor car.
That car will come to market in the latter part of ‘09, around the turn of the decade. We will put a second line in the factory, a second shift into the factories there. It’s a very, very exciting time. To do that with one of the world’s most understood, most accepted brands, it wasn’t a difficult decision to come here.
Q. What would the price point of the small car be?
ROBERTSON: $250, $280,000 -- too early to say. But around that.
Q. What would be a comparable car?
ROBERTSON: Well, you know, when you analyze this super luxury segment, it spans from about $125,000 U.S. upwards. The first thing you notice is that it has grown five fold in about six years. So as new product comes to the market, the segment grows. What’s happened, though, is that the majority of that growth has been in the $125-175 segment. We have re-established the position segment of over $350. And, therefore, there is a gap we see in the middle with very, very few products in the $225-285 segment. There’s virtually nothing there. We’re looking to grow our brand but still keep it at the pinnacle above everything else.
Q. I was with a journalist from China last week, who told me that in China, Rolls-Royce is considered an ultra-premium brand, much the way you would hope. That just the name, Rolls Royce, regardless of whatever vehicle is offered, is attached to very high prestige in China.
ROBERTSON: It is, and, if you look at what’s been happening in the Chinese market for us, three years ago we were virtually unknown there for all the reasons; that prior to the opening up of the market, you couldn’t have cars like Rolls-Royces. We saw dramatic sales growth from ‘05 to ‘06. We saw 75 percent growth in China, ‘05 to ‘06. And this year we’re already 30-odd percent up on that. “04” was our first year. China became our third largest market last year. So from that perspective, we’re enjoying a lot of success. The car there has about 300 per cent duty on it, so the starting point is about $750,000 U.S. Given that most of the cars along the way seem to be going out at $950,000 U.S., something of that order, you’ve really got to spend some serious money.
Q. How many are you selling in China?
ROBERTSON: This year, we’ll do about 18. Our heaviest market at the moment is the U.K., which is about 110.
Q. What are you sales projections for this car?
ROBERTSON: Too early to say yet. We originally planned to do 200, 225 a year -- something in that order. On that basis, we have sales all the way through to the spring or summer of ‘09. We may take that up a little bit, but that’s without any body really driving the car, yet. It’s only just going out.
Q. How does this car compare in your view to the Bentley Continental GT or GTC?
ROBERTSON: It’s very difficult to say. We’re selling this car in the United States for over $410,000 (base price); they’re selling their car for $160 (base). It is a totally different segment. They are orientated towards ultimate performance, so it has an unrestricted engine going up to 200 miles per hour; we have a restricted engine. We’re about low-end torque; they’re about top end speed. So, there are so many differences that really we’re not comparing like and like; we’re not competing in the same segment. In fact we’re not attracting the same customers.
Q. Who do you think your competition is, if you have any competition?
ROBERTSON: We chose a strategy that involved effectively taking a Volkswagen product and building a new car from the ground up. (Editor’s Note: Volkswagen purchased both Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motors in 1988, but eventually retained only Bentley. BMW acquired Rolls-Royce in 2002). So this is a unique platform; this is an aluminum space frame. Within the Volkswagen group, there is no aluminum space frame platform, and, as a result of that, we have positioned Rolls-Royce very clearly back at the top of the industry. And that has been accepted. That’s why we’re enjoying a lot of success; that’s why we have the highest sales now for 17 years, and we’re at a price point which has doubled the previous generation of cars.
Q. This Drophead Coupe was developed under your tenure at Rolls-Royce, and the decision to build this car came only two years ago? That’s a relatively short lead-time.
ROBERTSON: That’s one of the beauties of an aluminum space frame in that whilst virtually every part of the space frame is different in its construction to the saloon car, the concept is very similar, and it’s a very flexible platform. There’s no skuttle shake or anything in this car; it’s very torsionally stiff. That’s because we took the same sections that are on the saloon car, but we actually increased the diameter. So we have a bigger section to give it more stiffness, and more weight below, so then you have a very stiff car without a roof. Because it’s the roof on a conventional car produces a lot of the stiffness.
Q. What does this car weigh compared to your saloon car?
ROBERTSON: About 70 kilos heavier. If you look at the length of the front wing, it’s one of the longest pressed panels in the industry. More than that, if you look at the draw from the front to the other side of the headlamps, it’s a very deep draw. The only way you can produce that in aluminum is to super heat the aluminum first over 500 degrees, and then press it. Otherwise, you cannot attain that pressed component.
Q. In addition to your aluminum technology, you’re also working with stainless steel in this car?
ROBERTSON: About 90 percent of the customers are ordering stainless steel (hoods, or, as Ian would say, “bonnets”). It’s unique in many ways; the last piece of stainless steel that was fitted on a motorcar in America was the DeLorean. We actually have a DeLorean in our fleet; a lot of the analysis work came out of DeLorean, but ours is much better. That’s a function of many things; it’s a function of the fact that the steel’s much better these days. We hand-finish it -- the mechanical properties of the steel are just outstanding. The DeLorean --- if you look at the car 20 years down the road, it doesn’t look too hot. That’s why, you know, we had to bring a different process to stainless steel. We could have machine-finished the stainless steel as well, but we took to hand-brushing it so that again you get that handcrafted effect. Also you’re able to repair it in the field easily.
Q. Why the suicide doors?
ROBERTSON: The coach doors? (Ian Laughs) In getting in and out of a car, the exiting from this car is extremely elegant. We learned that from the Phantom. You go straight out. People struggle with doors in the other direction when they’re trying to make an elegant exit. From this point of view, it gave us a unique feature that fits the target market. And again, lots of technology. You have a lot of technology to prevent this door from creating any safety issue because the car won’t move forward if the door is open. The car has interlocks on it so they interlock with the gears.
Q. The push-button doors, does anyone else do that?
ROBERTSON: No, and we’ve got push buttons on both sides, as well. Equally, the (built-in storage compartment for the) umbrella is in the front wing of this car as opposed to being in the rear doors. So from a crash point of view, quite a challenging issue -- to take a frontal offset barrier crash -- so the umbrella could come back into this door. So, it’s totally collapsible.
Q. It’s a nice car to drive---easy to drive.
ROBERTSON: Yeah, it is. Whilst it is still a very large car, it sort of comes in around you. You’re in a very easy driving position. And, this is a true four-seater. As opposed to most convertibles where you can get a small child, if you’re lucky, and a briefcase mainly.
Q. Who are your customers? Who buys these cars?
ROBERTSON: In wealth terms, we find that our customers generally have between $25 and $30 million disposable income. We have seen over the last couple of years the age profile drop quite dramatically. The average age of our owners now is about 45, but if you go to L.A. and Miami, there are a lot of owners in their 20s and 30s who are driving around in our cars; but it’s also people who have a very high degree of confidence. This is not a car for people who would rather hide themselves away. You do make a statement when you’re driving a motorcar of this type. But I think the other thing is the only thing that binds them all together is that they’re all very successful.
As we return into the driveway of “the Lodge” at Pebble Beach, the security guard waves us through, giving us a nod of approval. Driving an ultra premium car like this is a passport to all of the finest places, it seems.
Cruising around Pebble Beach in a ride that costs over $100 grand per wheel, and with the CEO of the company sitting next to me, I never really tested the limits of the car; but it actually has been an easy car to drive, and I tell that to Ian. He in turn remarks that I “look well behind the wheel” of the DHC, and suggests that I get myself one. In response, I proffer my services as a shill for the company, and suggest that I would be happy to promote the car by driving it around Los Angeles for a few months. We both have a laugh at my expense, and even though I did promise to take the Rolls to only the best places, Ian shows his breeding by never really answering. He’s still British, you know.
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